


i guess we have to save the world

by xwannaflyx



Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, Gen, M/M, Time Travel Fix-It, the hufflepuff slytherin friendship and world saving no one asked for, the timeline is fluid don't worry about it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-10
Updated: 2018-07-10
Packaged: 2019-06-08 04:06:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,323
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15234951
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/xwannaflyx/pseuds/xwannaflyx
Summary: Shikamaru would like to reflect that this is entirely Sasuke's fault. Or someone that has Sharingan and/or is a Uchiha because he didn't deserve this nonsense and Temari most certainly was going to blame him for being late to their date because he got SENT TO THE BLOODY PAST.Lee would like to apologize to Shikamaru for sending them into the past. Lee would also like to save everyone now, please. They're in the past! Look at the opportunity Shikamaru!(aka the hufflepuff slytherin friendship that no one asked for that manages to save the world)





	i guess we have to save the world

**Author's Note:**

> Many thanks to Chabbit for being my sounding board throughout this fic. I'm sorry I wasn't able to have Itachi get the shit beaten out of him for you but considering he's a child, it seemed abusive and we've both agreed that there's certainly enough abuse and shitty adults in the Naruto universe.
> 
> For soosdraws for the Naruto gift exchange. The fic became a bit of a trainwreck and a monster but I hope you're able to enjoy it nonetheless! (I'm sorry it's very very gen)

“This is so troublesome.” Shikamaru stared up at the sky which had fluffy clouds that he couldn’t even appreciate because he had no idea what the fuck was going on because the last thing he had seen was a blur of green and spinning red eyes. He let out a small, weak cough, trying to convince his left lung that no, it was still firmly inside his chest and still necessary for ongoing life.

“Shikamaru?” He slowly turned his head and the large, round, entirely distinctive eyes of Rock Lee. “Are you alright?” he asked weakly, hands fluttering nervously over his body.

Shikamaru let out another indulgent groan just for the extra pettiness and sat up, looking around himself. “What happened?” he finally asked flatly.

Lee scratched his head uncomfortably and offered him a weak smile without the power of Youth behind it. “I believe I accidentally threw us into the room when the Sasuke-kun and Hokage were trying to...” he trailed off, his eyebrows drawing together as he tried to remember, “There were scrolls and Rinnegan eyes,” he finally concluded weakly with an apologetic smile. “I don’t know.”

Frowning, Shikamaru tried to think back past the pounding headache that was the result of impacting the ground headfirst with all of Rock Lee’s not inconsiderable energy behind him. “They were talking about,” he thought back harder then groaned loudly as he remembered, “They were discussing time movements,” he grumbled, flopping back onto the ground.

Lee blinked owlishly at Shikamaru, “Like,” he said hesitantly, “like time _travel_ ?” he asked, wincing. He gently flicked around the dirt on the ground, sighing. “Tenten is going to be very mad at me,” he admitted with a sigh, thumping back onto the ground alongside Shikamaru, “and Gai-sensei,” he paused, his large eyes suddenly welling with tears. “Shikamaru,” he moaned soulfully and despairingly, “Gai-sensei will be _so very disappointed_ in me for acting so unYouthfully and barging in on a private meeting!” he wailed, curling up.

Shikamaru groaned and buried his face in his hands. “This is so troublesome,” he despaired, wondering which higher power he had pissed off to be dealt with this fate. He was supposed to meet Temari for dinner tomorrow night and he was _positive_  this was somehow going to become solely his fault. “ _Troublesome._ ”

For a while, Shikamaru and Lee laid there in probably the middle of somewhere in Konoha’s redwood forests. They weren’t completely sure when they were in the past but they-mostly Shikamaru-decided to lay there and hope that maybe the time travel had a time limit. Lee curled up slightly into a ball, sighing and poking the dirt with a finger and sulking.

After a while, Shikamaru finally broke the silence. “I bet this is Sasuke’s fault,” Shikamaru groaned, stretching out his arms and staring into the sky. “I _bet_  this is Sasuke’s fault,” he repeated because Lee hadn’t agreed enthusiastically like that statement deserved.

“I think it might have been my fault, Shikamaru,” Lee admitted, wincing. “I think I startled him when we burst into the room.” Shikamaru rocked his head to the side and stared at Lee seriously. Lee was still curled up in a ball, staring mournfully down at his knees. “I’m sorry I accidentally got you sent into the past for no reason.”

“Honestly, I’m pretty sure neither of them should have had scrolls that important just casually out,” Shikamaru added, flopping his hand in Lee’s direction with vague empathetic and assuring feelings. “Someone should have taught those two that important things should be properly secured.”

Wincing, Lee slowly turned his face toward Shikamaru, “they’re both _orphans_ Shikamaru.”

Shikamaru winced that the bluntness then let out the noise of annoyance, “It’s the _Uchiha’s fault_ ,” he said slowly, a note of realization in his voice. Lee looked at Shikamaru, slowly shaking his head in denial. Suddenly sitting up, Shikamaru leaned in closer to Lee, “No Lee, I’m serious. This is Uchiha’s because Itachi and Obito both were stupid and manipulated and ended up making the idiot duo orphans.” Shikamaru sighed and then flopped back, “Honestly, if we were able to prevent them and maybe punch Madara and Zetsu in the face, a lot of the causes of the war wouldn’t have happened.” Shikamaru allowed his eyes to slip close, debating if he wanted to take a nap.

“Shikamaru!” Shikamaru yelped as he felt himself lifted up by his vest and yanked open his eyes to see Lee’s wide eyes, lit with Conviction. Lee beamed at him, his eyes almost glowing with joy. “Shikamaru, _we’re in the past!_ ”

Shikamaru batted ineffectively at Lee’s hands and finally slumped in Lee’s grip, resigning himself to his fate.

Lee tightened his grip and gave Shikamaru what he probably thought was a gentle shake. “Shikamaru, _we could tell the Uchihas to not do the things_ .” He paused an expression of wonder, almost rapture, on his face. “We could make sure everyone is _happy_.”

Going completely limp, Shikamaru let out a loud, echoing, pulled-from-the-depths-of-his soul groan of resignation, pain and regret.

-x-

“We should do something about Akatsuki too!” Lee cheered, punching the air. They had been discussing the necessary and unnecessary sections of history to interfere in for maximize reward and minimum effort. Well, to be precise, Lee had been exclaiming over various points in history and Shikamaru had been reorganizing the efforts into a much _much_ smaller list for minimum effort maximum reward.

“I’m pretty sure it’s too late if Yahiko is dead,” Shikamaru grumbled desperately trying to ignore his friend. It was pretty rare that he thought anyone was more troublesome than Ino or Temari, but honestly, he was getting pretty close to thinking that Lee might be worse than the two of them combined.

“I don’t think he’s dead yet?” Lee mumbled, scratching the back of his head. “But I suppose you’d know better than me.” His eyes were large, slightly watery, and very very trusting when he turned them on Shikamaru.

Grumbling, Shikamaru thought back on the gossip he had heard the two times they had snuck into the village for supplies and news. “At the point in time we are at by now,” Shikamaru mumbled. He trailed off and made some rapid calculations. The time travel jutsu-accident-whatever, seemed to expend effort to pull the people back into their original timeline and if he had calculated right -he did, he really did, he was lazy not completely brain dead- Shikamaru sighed heavily then sighed again, even heavier for a good measure. “Okay, there’s _something_ we can do but it’s not.... safe.”

“Sounds fun!” Lee said cheerfully, punching a wrapped first into the air.

Shikamaru let out another, long, slow, heartfelt sigh.

-x-

“What are we doing back at the village?” Lee hissed, leaning in over the table into Shikamaru. Reaching forward, Shikamaru tilted their wide brimmed hat slightly further down on Lee’s head. He had managed to force Lee into a large hat and significantly more drab colored clothing before putting a henge on himself; Lee’s jumpsuit was too distinctive and he looked too much like his father for comfort.

“You wanted to save Akatsuki and if I didn’t do anything you could have ran to Amegakure without anything even vaguely resembling a plan.”

“I would have thought of one on the way,” Lee said cheerfully, giving Shikamaru a large smile and thumbs up. Shikamaru firmly grasped Lee’s fist and slowly lowered it, cautiously looking around them if anyone had noticed.

“Yeah, sure,” he agreed dully. “Anyway,” he added quickly as Lee opened his mouth. “We’re back because the root of a lot of problems was Shimura Danzo.” He bit back a snicker from the unintentional pun then buried his face in his hands because he clearly was going insane if thought puns like that were this funny.

“And?” Lee asked cheerfully, taking a large bit out the dango that they had ordered.

“And we’re going to kill him.”

Lee blinked. He frowned very slightly and cocked his head to the side, “We won’t be making him a martyr, will we?” he asked, a distasted curl on his lips.

“Oh no,” Shikamaru snarled, a bloodthirsty smile curling his lips. “I’m not nearly so sloppy.”

Lee’s lips also stretched into a teeth-baring, rather vicious grin.

-x-

The chuunin screamed when he entered Danzo’s living space and only found bloody smears and Danzo’s sightless eyes staring at the doorway. He stared sightlessly from the bloody streaks on the floor to Danzo’s prone form to the bloody writing on the wall. The next few hours were a blur and he eventually found himself meeting the eyes of the Hokage and giving a trembling report.

“Thank you. Dismissed,” Hiruzen said gently, after giving the poor chuunin that had come into the bloody sight a firm squeeze on the shoulder. As the boy walked shakily out of the room, Hiruzen indicated for one of his jounin to follow the boy and make sure he got the help he needed if necessary. “What am I seeing here?” Hiruzen added slowly, turning to his Jounin Commander.

“ _I_  think it’s rather obvious,” Koharu said tartly, tongue as sharp and unforgiving as always. “The bloody sign and the piles of paperwork and the ANBU coming out of the shadows are making everything rather blatant, hmm?”

They both turned back to wall. The words ‘REFLECT ON YOUR SINS’ were emblazoned in large letters, the blood used to write the message tacky and no longer dripping. Koharu wasn’t wrong about the overwhelming amount of evidence against Danzo that had come to light. Outside of the bloody -literal- writing on the wall and Danzo’s body displayed grotesquely on the floor, there was also piles of paperwork and records of covert missions and faked death certificates piled next to Danzo’s body with clearly marked post it notes; Hiruzen also noted that all of the paperwork was the only untouched, bloodless parts of the room really.

“Yes, all the evidence is a little damning,” Hiruzen said benignly taking a slowly pull from his pipe. He had a quick moment of mourning for the friend that Danzo had been before he pushed that back in order to concentrate on the not very subtle uprising that had been occurring right under his nose. “We should call a Council,” he mused.

“That should be easy-a third of it is dead,” Koharu said flatly before walking brusquely out the room, as to the point and pragmatic as always. Hiruzen sighed, taking one last look at his old, former friend then left the room to call for a complete recounting of all the evidence in Danzo’s room. There was quite a bit to get done now. Thank goodness there wasn’t a war stirring right now.

Hiruzen wasn’t aware but the war that had been stirring would be rapidly doused with the extent of manipulation and infiltration that would come out. The paperwork piles would be truly the stuff of legend and nightmares.

Lee and Shikamaru sprinted through the trees, fleeing Konoha because unsanctioned assassinations tended to make an entire village of assassins rather twitchy. “Alright now, where and when do we find Obito?” Lee asked cheerfully, swiftly ducking a branch and hands still bloody from their recent kill.

“Oh for fuck’s sake, Lee!”

-x-

There's nothing quite like watching Lee rip through six gates and disappear because he is moving too fast to remember that Lee was a dangerous and competent jounin in his own right as well as the protege student of Gai, the only person to go through eight gates and come out the other side alive and the only person to actually managed to make the man that went toe to toe with the God of Shinobi take a step back.

Shikamaru watched Lee blurring from one section of the room to another, ripping apart any White Zetsu that stood in his way and chasing down Madara whose red eyes spun slowly. Sighing, he turned towards the wide-eyed boy sitting there half curled on his side and cradling a hand on his face. “Yo.”

“Who are you?” Obito asked, his voice a lot more high pitched and fearful than Shikamaru remembered.

Shikamaru let out another sigh. Glancing back to check that Lee had things well in hand, he focused on Obito and casually took his shadow, immobilizing the boy and causing his breath to wheeze in shock. “You didn’t come here willingly, right?” he drawled, leaning his weight on one foot then the other.

Obito shook his head mutely, hands fallen limp at his sides. “N-No,” he stammered, his chin jerking slightly as he attempted to shake his head. “I am a loyal shinobi of the Leaf,” he vowed, his eyes flickering up to Shikamaru’s hitai-ate and then back down.

“No treason? No delusions of grandeur?” Shikamaru added, glancing back to check on Lee just in time to watch him roundhouse kick Madara on the face while punching his fist _through_ Zetsu’s chest.

“N-No,” Obito whimpered.

“Oh good,” Shikamaru said noncommittally before releasing the boy. “We’re taking you back home,” he announced cheerfully. He turned his back on the shell-shocked Obito and turned back to watch Lee reach out and simultaneously crush Madara’s chest while neatly plucking out the man’s eyes. “Gross,” he said tonelessly, ignoring the sudden retching he could hear behind him.

“Shikamaru, here!” Lee appeared beside him and passed him the two bloody eyes. He was practically vibrating with energy, his form still lit with chakra. “Hello Obito!” he greeted cheerfully. Obito whimpered.

“I usually get flowers,” Shikamaru said, sighing. He turned back towards the charging Zetsu, abruptly becoming serious. “Get behind me,” he added before drawing his kunai and neatly slicing a cut on both of his hands. With a whisper, the shadows under his feet abruptly spread, becoming deeper and darker and reaching greedily for Zetsu. Heedless, Zetsu continued rushing forward before he began slowing, feet sinking deeper and deeper into the darkness at each step.

“Mother!” Zetsu shrieked, clawing up. “Mother!”

“Who’s your god now, bitch,” Shikamaru grumbled, watching as his shadows drew higher and higher and finally dragged Zetsu’s shrieking form deep into itself. He glanced down at the dull black eyes in his hands and tossed them in as well as a safety measure. His shadows swallowed those as well before slowly, reluctantly, retreating back under his feet.

“Should we do anything about that corpse?” Lee asked, his chakra finally settling as he slowly, slowly closed each of the gates. “It seems a little weird to just leave that here for anyone to harvest.”

“Good point,” Shikamaru admitted. He turned back to Obito who was sitting trembling on the slab. “Yo, you got any scrolls on you?”

Obito stared blankly at the two before he finally, slowly reached for a weapons pouch. He groped around his back before remembering with a flash of embarrassment that Uchiha Madara hadn’t permitted him to have any weapons. Or scrolls. “Oh, I-”

“Troublesome,” Shikamaru grumbled, then grabbed Obito’s arm, causing what Obito thought was some justifiable alarm. “Stay still,” he warned before drawing a finger through one of his cuts and drawing a storage seal directly onto his arm. Obito squawked but remembered still, trying to still the trembling.

“Tenten said that storing on the body makes for complications in the long run,” Lee said slowly, peering over Shikamaru’s shoulder.

“Tenten’s correct,” Shikamaru agreed, causing Obito to make another squawking protest. “But this isn’t long run so it’ll be fine,” he added, finishing the seal. He drew in chakra and easily sealed Madara’s corpse into Obito’s arm. “For when your Hokage requires proof,” he explained to Obito as the boy poked rather desolately at his arm. “Just say you got kidnapped. That’s not technically false.”

“Sandaime is a very understanding, good man!” Lee added cheerfully, giving Obito a Good Guy pose. Obito let out a little choked, confused whimper. There was something strangely familiar about that expression, he thought. He couldn’t quite remember what it was but it looked very _very_ familiar.

“Yeah sure,” Shikamaru said dryly. “Alright you’re gonna go to sleep now-” Obito let out another squawk and attempted to retreat away from Shikamaru’s suddenly threatening form- “and when you wake up you’ll be back in Konoha and not mention us.” Without another word, he hit Obito rather firmly at the base of the neck and caught his suddenly limp form.

“I think that went very well!” Lee said cheerfully, turning his Good Guy pose on Shikamaru. Shikamaru silently stared at Lee for a very long moment then wordlessly picked up Obito, slung him over his shoulder, and walked out of the cave.

Lee trailed after Shikamaru, sighing at his friend’s lack of Youthfulness. Suddenly, Lee remembered a very old conversation he had with Gai-sensei a very long time ago. “Shikamaru!” Lee exclaimed, grabbing Shikamaru’s arm and causing him to unbalance slightly. “ _We can save Kakashi-sensei!_ ” Lee boomed, gripping Shikamaru’s arms and shaking him slightly in emphasis.

“Kakashi isn’t dead,” Shikamaru said slowly with a frown.

“No, no,” Lee said shaking his head frantically. “He had a friend who died that caused him much turmoil!” he said enthusiastically. “Shikamaru, _we could save her!_ ” Shikamaru stared blankly at the rather bright Light of Conviction in Lee’s eyes and abruptly wished that he had never gotten out of bed this morning.

-x-

“Chidori!” a young Kakashi snarls as he begins sprinting toward the enemy.

“You know,” Lee hissed as he sprinted forward to intercept Rin, “I always wondered why as assassins we seem to scream our ‘secret techniques’ before we attack people,” Lee mused. Shikamaru almost tripped. Lee’s words held an alarming amount of sense but trying to keep Rin from committing suicide really wasn’t the time that he wanted to be discussing this. “Yosh!” Lee added, diving toward Rin. One moment he could see the shadow of the two of them, in the next Lee stood beside him with Rin’s unmoving form slung over his shoulder, ignoring the carnage Kakashi was causing behind him. “What next?”

Shikamaru snatched Rin from Lee, laid her down and, after mumbling an indistinct apology, he  ripped off her shirt. “She had an improperly placed seal on her for the Sanbi,” he mumbled, flexing chakra through her coils until inky black lines slowly bled out onto her skin.

“That’s a terrible seal,” Lee grumbled, leaning over Shikamaru’s shoulder. “Tenten would punch whoever made this seal.”

“I’m pretty sure it’s deliberately leaky, Lee,” Shikamaru grumbled. Lee hummed in agreement but his expression was still clearly disapproving.

“Who...” Rin croaked, her fingers twitching as she attempted to focus, “Kakashi,” she moaned, once she caught sight of their hitai-ate. Her eyes pleaded with them, “Kakashi...” she repeated, fingers twitching convulsively.

“Why is she awake?” Shikamaru grumbled, trying to ignore the fact that he was still poking some unknown girl’s bare stomach in an attempt to figure the seal.

“Gaara.”

“Ah.” Shikamaru and Lee spoke no further, remembering the devastation of the Chuunin Exams. “Right,” he said, drawing a kunai and ignoring the slight whimper that escaped Rin’s form. He briskly reopened the wounds on his hands and began drawing on the seal, attempting to fill the in gaps and using his shadows to make it last long enough for the girl to get to Konoha and see a proper seal master.

“You’re missing a symbol over there,” Lee added, pointing at the corner of the seal.

“What-” Shikamaru cut himself off as he realized with some embarrassment that Lee was right and he hadn’t completely closed off the seal. “Right,” he grumbled, briskly filling it in and sealing it in place with shadows. “The moment you get to Konoha, you talk to a seal master,” he warned the girl. Her head twitched, probably her attempting to nod.

“We should leave before Kakashi is done,” Lee whispered, leaning forward and putting a gentle pulse of chakra through her coils. “You should be able to move.... soon-ish,” he said giving her a quiet thumbs up and a rather sheepish smile. Her eyes flicked between the two of them, bewildered.

“It’s gotten quiet,” Shikamaru hissed. Rin watched the two strangers leap away as Kakashi trampled through the trees, screaming her name. She reflected that today had been a rather strange day with getting kidnapped twice -the second by significantly friendlier people thank goodness- and with Kakashi actually being loud and _‘uncool.’_

“This is fun!” Lee cheered as he sprinting away from the site of their crime.

Shikamaru let out a long, deep groan. “You’re so troublesome, Lee,” he grumbled, rubbing his face tiredly and almost walking through a tree for his troubles.

-x-

“Lee, we really can’t just _break into the Uchiha Compound_ ,” Shikamaru hissed, trying to press Lee back as he continued trying to break free and run into the Uchiha Compound. “Lee, you might not understand because they were kind of all _dead_ when we were kids but the Uchihas were sort of a _big deal back then_ ,” Shikamaru continued actively fighting Lee’s efforts. “If you kidnap the current Clan Heir, it’s going to _end very badly for us_.”

Finally no longer trying to break free from Shikamaru’s grip, Lee pouted, turning very large planitive and watery eyes on Shikamaru. “But Shikamaru,” he whined, “we can tell Itachi to not kill everyone and try for a better peace.” He leaned in, completely earnest, “Itachi needs the power of Youth, Shikamaru!”

“Itachi needs therapy, Lee. I’m pretty sure the ‘power of youth’ isn’t going to help him.” Shikamaru stared up at the sky and wondered when everything had gone really really wrong. When he turned back, there was a small green blur heading toward the Uchiha Compound. Swearing, Shikamaru scrambled up and chased after Lee. When he skidded to as silent as stop as he could, Lee was standing in a far corner training ground of the Uchiha Compound, staring down at the tiny Uchiha which a short ponytail of hair.

“Shikamaru,” Lee said, his voice devastated and his lip quivering, “he looks so _lonely_.”

“Lee don’t-”

“Hello!” Lee immediately backflipped out of the way of three fireballs and dodged a hail of shuriken and landed behind the child that was clearly Itachi and gathered him in an enthusiastic hug. “Hello!”

Itachi hung limply in Lee’s grip, absolute bewilderment in his eyes. Lee clutched tightly at the child, yelling something about youth and love and other various emotional nonsense. Shikamaru sighed and leaped down from the tree, landing lightly in front of the two. “Hello Itachi,” he greeted. Shikamaru did a quick scan of the surroundings, and finding everything still quiet, turned back to Itachi, “I hope Sasuke is asleep,” he added, smirking.

Itachi tensed, eyes suddenly spinning red. “Leave my brother alone.”

Shikamaru laughed coolly, causing Lee to look at him strangely with faint alarm. “I wonder who protects your brother.”

“Shika-!” Lee began, his eyebrows drawing together with concern.

“You stay the hell away from my brother,” Itachi snarled, his eyes still spinning furiously and his childlike face screwed up with hopeless anger. He fought Lee’s grip for a moment and Lee frowned deeper but tightened his grip, meeting Shikamaru’s firm gaze for reassurance while shushing Itachi.

“I wonder if you’re staying close enough to actually protect the boy,” Shikamaru mused idly, reassured that Lee would maintain his grip and hopefully not say anything. “I mean,” he paused and smiled at Itachi, letting something feral slip into his gaze, “So many people around to influence one small boy, don’t you think?”

Itachi’s anger faded into something a little more helpless. “I...” he trailed off, frowning slightly.

Crouching down, Shikamaru fearlessly met Itachi’s still spinning gaze. “Remember this, Uchiha,” he said slowly, remembering the frantic race after Sasuke in that goddamned barrel and Chouji wizened and drained, and Neji with an open hole in his shoulder and Naruto screaming and mourning and fighting always. “Rule breakers are trash,” he said slowly. He paused and felt a wry smile pull the corners of his mouth. Tapping Itachi on the chest, he continued, “but those that abandon their family -their _comrades-_ are worse than trash.”

With a ripple of chakra and deepening shadows, Shikamaru pulled himself and Lee out of the Uchiha Compound. Lee immediately wheeled on Shikamaru, hands placed firmly on his hips. “You shouldn’t bully children, Shikamaru,” Lee said firmly, scowling. “You weren’t very nice.”

Sighing, Shikamaru rubbed his face. “But trust me. This would probably be more effective than the emotional talk, Lee,” he said as gently as he could with the memories fresh in his mind. He let out a longer, deeper sigh, “Lee there’s something pretty broken in Sasuke, alright?” he admitted, frowning slightly. “And honestly, there was something broken in Itachi too. But maybe with the warnings I gave, he’ll think about his actions and not repeat the same mistakes.”

After continuing to frown for a long moment, Lee sighed and patted Shikamaru’s shoulder. “I know you did your best and I trust you,” he said easily. Shikamaru blinked at him in surprise. Lee was typically obtuse and straight forward, facing the world head on; Shikamaru hadn’t expected that sort of easy acceptance on the darker aspects of manipulation. “I trust you,” he repeated, giving Shikamaru quick thumbs. Shikamaru allowed a quick smile to cross his face and let his guard down a touch. “Shikamaru,” Lee said suddenly, his eyes welling with Conviction. Shikamaru forced down the urge to whimper. The last three times Lee had that much Conviction in his eyes, he had ended up doing.... stuff. “Shikamaru,” Lee repeated, the light of realization on his face and his hand clenched into the Fist of Resolution, “we could help _baby Gaara_!”

“Ohhhhh no,” Shikamaru said immediately, sitting up and frowning at his time travel companion. “Lee, Gaara wants to kill me on a regular basis, okay. _I’m dating his older sister_. I really don’t need help trying to get murdered by Gaara-especially this time period Gaara who had minimal control of Shukaku and an even more murderous temper.”

“But Shikamaru!” Lee exclaimed, his eyes watery in thinking of his lonely, small friend. “He was so _lonely_.”

“He literally killed all his caretakers, Lee.”

“But he would be so _small_ ,” Lee wailed, his eyes lit up the same way as when he fed baby squirrels or was able to convince small woodland creatures that he was exuberant but safe and therefore was allowed to pet them. “He was so _sad and small and lonely_ .” He turned large, desolate, starting-to-tear-up eyes upon Shikamaru and Shikamaru felt himself fold up like a wet paper bag. “ _He just needed friends or someone like Gai-sensei!_ ”

“I have so many regrets in my life,” Shikamaru despaired, looking at the teary eyes of his friend. “ _So many_.”

Lee _beamed_ at Shikamaru, his teeth shining in the night and his eyes glowing with joy. Shikamaru groaned again and slowly dragged himself off the tree branch and begin their travel to Sunagakure. “ _Shikamaru let’s make it there in half the time!_ ” Lee added eagerly.

Shikamaru blanched. “Lee we are _not going to cut a three day travel to one and a half days!_ ”

-x-

“Okay, we need to strategize about this,” Shikamaru said slowly, securing both his hands on Lee’s shoulders to make sure he doesn’t run off without a plan. “Alright, we need to be smart about this.”

“Are you going to be my friend too?”

“Ah!” Shikamaru shrieked like the dignified adult he definitely is, ducking behind Lee and diving to the side which resulted in a very undignified stumble trip and resulted in him landing sprawled on his back. When he scrambled up and looked, there were two tiny suspiciously squinted aqua eyes staring at him from behind a cloud of sand.

“Shikamaru!” Lee admonished, placing himself between the suspiciously glaring eyes and Shikamaru’s ill-prepared sprawled form. He very easily placed his back on _the tiny murderously not properly sealed Jinchuriki_. “You startled him!”

“He doesn’t look like he’s a jounin,” said a high pitched voice. He wheeled around to see a tiny girl standing protectively in front of another boy who peered curiously around her shoulder. “The weird eyebrow kidnapper said that you were a jounin.”

“Oh my god Lee, did you _kidnap the Kazekage’s children?!_ ” Shikamaru felt his heart trying to pound itself out of his chest. He stared blankly at the three children then looked at Lee who was smiling cheerfully and innocently at him. Suddenly, he had a not insignificant amount of sympathy and mentally apologized to his mother for anytime she yelled at him for not listening to what she said. “Lee!”

“No one even saw me,” Lee said cheerfully, he tugged the sandstorm cloud closer and cuddled a little Gaara closer to him. “Besides, they deserved better than what they had,” he snapped, his expression suddenly thunderous. Gaara stared at Lee blankly, confused but innocent adoration on his face.

He looked away from the disturbingly similar and sympathy inducing expressions of Lee and Gaara. The other two children, Temari and Kankuro now that he was looking closer, still were staring at the group of them suspiciously but their expressions became one of blank confusion as they watched this strange kidnapper cuddling their murderous little brother. “Okay, clearly no one is listening to me,” Shikamaru began, burying his face in his hands.

“You’re kinda a whiner aren’t you?” Temari’s distinctive if higher pitched voice snapped. He looked up from his hands and met her incredibly judgemental gaze. “Eyebrow kidnapper said that you’re a jounin but you kind of seem like a crybaby.

Shikamaru wondered how he was still categorized that way despite actually being probably a generation older than her. Lee cleared his throat, and Shikamaru found that Lee’s face had suddenly become serious. “Temari-san,” Lee said gesturing for the two of them to come closer. They did so cautiously. “We need to talk about the Love of Siblings.”

Temari squinted, confused and curious at how she managed to actually hear the emphasis on certain words. “What are you talking about?” Kankuro asked, peeping up over his sister’s shoulder.

Lee stared seriously and met each of the three Sand Siblings’ eyes. “The Love of Siblings,” he said seriously, “is important and must be protected.” He gave Temari and Kankuro a tamed down Good Guy smile, “Despite what others say, in the end the three of you have to support each other. You need to watch each other’s back.”

“I don’t need anyone to watch my back.” “He doesn’t need anyone to watch his back.”

Temari winced and bopped Kankuro on the head as Lee turned a serious Disappointed Face on everyone. “It isn’t about need,” he said sternly, “It is about support and love.”

Gaara turned wide eyes on Lee then slowly turned them to Temari and Kankuro, hope shining in the depths of his adorable aqua eyes. “Love?” he asked tentatively. He tugged Lee’s spandex to get his attention, “You protect people you love?”

“Yes,” Lee said serious but beaming. “When you love people, you want to protect them!” He gave them another Good Guy pose.

Shikamaru stared incredulously as the three nodded seriously. Temari hesitated for a moment and after an encouraging hum from Lee and judicious elbow application from Kankuro, she slowly stretched out a hand for Gaara, the other hand clinging to Kankuro’s. Gaara stared at her hand, sand hissing agitatedly and slowly he grasped her hand. When she gave his hand a gentle squeeze, Gaara’s eyes widened and he slowly and gently squeezed back before a small, adorable smile lifted the corners of his lips.

“Good!” Lee announced, gathering all three of the children and squeezing them in a tight hug. “Now you do have to work on control,” he added severely, frowning down at the three of them, “but you protect each other.” He released them and met their eyes, “Do you think you can do that. Protect each other from everyone else.”

Temari’s jaw firmed, a familiar gleam of determination and stubbornness in her eyes. “I’ll protect them,” she said squeezing their hands tightly and dragging them closer to her protectively. “I’m gonna.”

Gaara stared awestruck at her pale, clinging fingers before beaming. Shikamaru stared at everyone incredulously before sighing, closing his eyes, and resigning himself to his fate. “So,” he said slowly, “how are we gonna get them back.” A split second after he said that, there was a rush of wind and then another rush. Shikamaru kept his eyes shut. “You just dropped them back in their rooms, didn’t you,” he said slowly.

“Yes!” Lee said cheerfully. Shikamaru cracked his eyes open to look at the Lee’s unendingly, unceasingly cheerful expression. Lee shook out his arms and stretched his neck from side to side, “I think that went well!” he added, giving Shikamaru a Good Guy pose. Shikamaru moaned and hid his face in his hands.

-x-

“Oh god, please tell me nothing weird happened,” Shikamaru exclaimed, flailing up from the ground. He whipped around to check that Lee was whole. Intact, and sitting beside him and then checked his gaze up to see Naruto, Sasuke, Temari, and Tenten. “It wasn’t my fault,” he added, immediately, holding out his hands apologetically to Temari.

“Lee, are you okay?” Tenten asked gently, reaching out to her green clad teammate. Lee let out a groan and stood up, rubbing his temples. “If there’s anything wrong with him,” she added sweetly, turning a vicious glare on Naruto and causing him to flinch, “I will cheerfully rip out both of your throats _with my teeth_.”

“And Gaara will help,” Temari added, amused. She held out a hand to Shikamaru and he took it cautiously; she didn’t seem murderous but he was probably definitely late to a date sometime and going to suffer for it. “You okay, crybaby?”

“God, child you called me that too,” he grumbled, standing easily. “What day is it? I missed our date, didn’t I?”

“You’ve been gone for two weeks,” Naruto admitted, laughing weakly and rubbing the back of his neck. “It took a little while for Sasuke and I to figure out how to bring you back and, well-”

“Space time continuum nonsense. I’m about the only one that vaguely remembers what happened. And you two, I suppose,” Sasuke filled in. He lifted his shoulder in a easy shrug, “The memories will probably eventually fade for all of us.”

“So the Uchiha?”

“Alive and well. Much better relations with everyone else since Itachi took position.”

“Madara?”

“Been dead. Last we heard of him was after he and Hashirama duked it out.”

“Akatsuki?”

“Technically a peaceful organization that is a pain on Hanzo’s ass. But that’s not a Konoha problem.”

“Mom likes them,” Naruto added, grinning. “She said that she could appreciate their spirit.”

“Your mom also likes to meditate by fist fighting with the Nine Tailed Fox,” Sasuke said wryly. “Literally no one wants to ask her for her opinion on what is ‘spirited.’” Naruto shrugged with a small scoff.

“I can’t believe it all worked,” Shikamaru mumbled, already feeling certain memories get fuzzy and others try to rearrange themselves in his head. “Ugh, my head hurts.”

“It is because of the Power of Youth and Love!” Lee exclaimed before swaying into Tenten’s arms. “Ow..?” he said slowly, looking confused.

“Bodies aren’t really supposed to be yanked through time and space,” Tenten said wryly, supporting his weight. “And honestly, that seal was gorgeous but it was also sort of a mess. I’m surprised it worked to begin with.”

“Well it’s fine now,” Temari said abruptly while eyeing Lee. “Alright, lazy bones. You owe me a date.”

“Could I have a painkiller first?” he moaned, already following after her as she strolled out of the office.

“Hospital for you,” Tenten said firmly, securing a grip on the collar of Lee’s jumpsuit. “ _Do not_ ,” she snarled, suddenly whipping around and jabbing her finger into Naruto’s chest and causing him to jump behind Sasuke for protection, “pull my teammate into this _bullshit_ ever again.”

Sulking, Sasuke waited until she exited, half carrying Lee before turning to Naruto. “You know, from what I can remember, if Lee hadn’t startled me by breaking into the office then it never would have happened.”

“Sasuke, I literally have no idea what you’re talking about,” Naruto groaned, throwing his hands up in the air. “Like you kept telling me we have to do something when we were supposed to be getting Ichiraku together and you keep saying something about memories and I’m so fucking confused dude.”

“That’s because you’re an idiot.”

“Hey!” Naruto yelped, following Sasuke out of the office as he strode away. “Wait you bastard! Where are you going!”

“Ichiraku’s, right?” Sasuke said easily, not slowing his steps. “Hurry up.”

Naruto stared at the back of Sasuke’s head for a moment and had to acknowledge that he would probably never completely understand the man. “Alright, alright!” he said, catching and grasping Sasuke’s hand. “You’re buying.”

“Only the first three,” Sasuke said warningly. He really didn’t feel like having to ask his _parents_  for an allowance because his boyfriend was eating him out of hearth and home; somehow that didn’t seem like the sort of excuse his parents would listen to. He imagined having to ask Itachi and suppressed a shudder; his brother would just coo at him in that disturbing I-find-you-enduring way and try to smother him in a hug. No thank you. Tightening his grip on Naruto’s hand, he allowed different, somewhat detached memories to fade and listened to Naruto with half a ear. God, his boyfriend could talk endlessly.

“Sasuke, you bastard, you’re listening right?” Naruto demanded, tugging on their joined hands insistently.

“Yeah, yeah,” Sasuke grumbled, slouching further. God, he was probably going to buy of Naruto’s lunch wasn’t he; damn it, Itachi would be cooing at him again.


End file.
